Des Houghton: Qld Govt’s hush money may not make controversial dismissal story go away
A former press secretary’s legal case against the Queensland Government has been settled, but there seems to be unfinished business, writes Des Houghton.
Opinion
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ANNASTACIA Palaszczuk and her Cabinet colleagues and media minders would have been greatly relieved when senior press secretary Neil Doorley accepted a large sum of money to stop his legal action over his controversial dismissal.
The journalist, known for his stylish reporting in print and on television, took his fight to the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission and also ran an action for “political discrimination” in the Human Rights Commission.
Neil Doorley compensation claim exposes secretive media unit run by Premier’s office
The Doorley case shone a light into the machinations of the state propaganda machine, which usually stays hidden for a very good reason: It’s ugly.
As part of the settlement, the veteran journo’s lips were sealed by a confidentiality agreement. The Palaszczuk Government has, in effect, paid hush money to make the story go away. Whether it does may now be in the hands of the Crime and Corruption Commission. There is too much smoke surrounding the case for the watchdog to ignore.
After his sacking 15 months ago, Doorley sought compensation for lost employment and income and damage to his career prospects and personal reputation,
and for pain, stress, anxiety and humiliation.
A trail of affidavits expose allegations of serious ministerial wrongdoing, backstabbing, cover-ups, bullying, professional sabotage and infighting. And leaks of Cabinet documents led to a police raid on the ABC.
In my view the Doorley affidavits point to a dysfunctional government unfit to govern.
Doorley was approached to join the Government by Susan McGrady, adviser to Treasurer Jackie Trad, the Deputy Premier in June 2015. He worked for ministers Mick de Brenni, Steven Miles, Leeanne Enoch and Craig Crawford for more than three years.
Part of his job was to “clean up” for the Government and the Office of Premier and Cabinet and to “contain any fall-out”, court documents showed.
While working for Miles, Doorley soon found out what else he was expected to do.
“It was made very clear to (Doorley) that the minister and the minister’s senior staff would be expected to campaign for the minister and the ALP, including outside working hours and on weekends,” Doorley alleged. He declined to
do so.
Doorley may not know, but insiders tell me it was routine for media minders to doorknock and make campaigning phone calls for their ministers and other ALP candidates during last election campaign. Does the practice continue? If so, does it breach workplace laws?
Doorley was later accused by staff in the Premier’s Department of leaking to the media. However, in the affidavits he sensationally accused Environment Minister Steven Miles of being the leaker of five stories supposedly showing the previous LNP government in a bad light.
Doorley alleged these stories ranged from confidential Newman government Cabinet documents to secret modelling on the costs to save the Great Barrier Reef, the purchase of a cattle station, cuts to the public service and contamination near Linc Energy’s underground coal gasification plant on the Darling Downs.
The stories from February 2017 by ABC journalists Mark Willacy and Alexandra Blucher caused uproar and led to a raid on the ABC by the Queensland Police State Crime Command. The raids followed a complaint by Cabinet Secretary, Leighton Craig, who said files were “improperly accessed”. Police executed a warrant at the ABC’s South Bank headquarters which said that a “person or persons unknown having been employed in public office by the Queensland Government unlawfully communicated information, namely confidential cabinet
briefing notes”.
Oddly, the story quickly fizzled out. Where the investigation went remains secret. Why?
At the time of the raid, Paul Murphy from the journalists’ union made a very good point. He said the role of the media was to scrutinise those in power, and police should hunt the source of the leaks, not the reporters doing their jobs.
When Doorley was reassigned to the office of Innovations Minister Leeanne Enoch in March 2017, Kirby Anderson, Palaszczuk’s deputy Chief of Staff told him Enoch was “lazy, and the office is a basket case”. Doorley said he was made unwelcome in Enoch’s office and subjected to verbal abuse by her staff and accused of being a “mole” for the Premier’s office. He said he was also subjected to “professional sabotage” with his media events cancelled without his knowledge.
Doorley alleged one staff member told him to “f--- off” simply for requesting some routine background material.
After complaining about his role, Doorley said he was called into a meeting with the Premier’s chief-of-staff, David Barbagallo, who told him there had been complaints against him. Doorley said these were not detailed.
In October 2018 Doorley said he got a call from Shane Doherty, Palaszczuk’s media and communications chief, transferring him to the office of Mick de Brenni, Minister for Housing. He alleged Doherty told him Cat Milton, the media adviser, could no longer work with de Brenni and threatened to resign if she was not transferred.
Once in de Brenni’s office Doorley said he “witnessed a number of incidents of junior staff being humiliated and reduced to tears”.
In November 2018 Doorley was diagnosed as having “work-related stress and anxiety due to mistreatment in the workplace”.
Three days later Doorley contacted Doherty requesting a meeting and raising concerns about unresolved issues in de Brenni’s office. Doorley claimed he was sacked days later by the Premier’s then chief-of-staff David Barbagallo, in November, 2018, days after he returned to work after stress leave.
(Barbagallo resigned last September, and is still subject of an unrelated CCC probe. In Parliament it was revealed a company partly owned by him won a grant worth $267,000 to build a smartphone app.)
The Doorley case may have been settled, but there seems much unfinished business.
SQUID PROS SHIFT STATUS QUO
DO YOU ever get the feeling that some scientific endeavours are just a bit too kooky? Me too.
The University of Queensland reports scientists have just completed mapping the brain of a squid.
They used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), usually reserved for detecting brain tumours in humans.
Researchers concluded squids have complex brains with a “neuronal number” surpassing rats and approaching that of
a dog.
Meanwhile, four new species of sharks that can walk along the coral on their fins have been found in tropical waters. How interesting. Not.
But the most bizarre science news comes from the UK, where a neurosurgeon says head transplants will be all the go within 10 years.
Dr Bruce Mathew from Hull University Teaching Hospitals says advances in robotics, stem-cell transplants and nerve surgery could make it possible to transfer a brain and spinal cord between two bodies.
One head transplant has already
been carried out at Harbin Medical University in China in 2017, the UK Telegraph has reported. Dr Xiaoping Ren managed to transplant a head on to a dead monkey’s body in 2017.
Russian computer scientist Valery Spiridonov, who has muscular dystrophy, had volunteered to have his head transplanted to a new body, but backed away from his initial decision last year.
IRRITANT OF THE WEEK
JANN STUCKEY. The outgoing LNP Member
for Currumbin churlishly pulling the pin early simply because she couldn’t get her own way in selecting the candidate to
follow her.
Des Houghton is a media consultant and a former editor of The Courier-Mail and Sunday Mail
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